We are now on the wrong side of things with respect to day length. On the up side some Arctic breeders start to return in July.
The month of June saw many birds fledging from Tits to Pied Flycatchers, Redstarts and Woodpeckers, Siskin and Chaffinch. So we have many juvenile birds around and some adults singing in the hope of another brood. Some juvenile feeding behaviour is intriguing, for example Great-spotted Woodpecker, appear to be deserted onto the peanut feeders rather than being taught to forage and juvenile Blue tits have taken up residence in the fat-ball feeder. I suppose it is a matter of why waste energy searching when food is readily available. ( a bit like supermarkets versus home growing) .
The Sparrowhawk is obviously feeding with the number of sorties to the bird feeders and naive juveniles make for an easy catch. The Buzzards also have at least one noisy young in the nest. The Swallows and House Martins have yet to build their nests. They return but then leave again as they did throughout May. I expect the Tawny Owl has a part to play in the former with the sparrows ( now onto second brood) playing their part in the latter's problem with building.
With grass cutting and ploughing in the valley I have added Black-headed Gull to the list. Herring and Lesser Black-backed are frequent but Black-headed are usually conspicuous by their absence.
We had three new species (not birds) for the farm yesterday. A bee ( Chelostoma florisomne) in the bee hotel, a moth ( Welsh Wave) in the moth trap and an Earthstar fungi (? which) in the polytunnel. Not bad for a Saturday morning. Photo by Richard of new bee.